How to Break a Weight Loss Plateau

Follow These Tips When the Scale Won't Budge

Getting caught in a weight loss plateau is extremely frustrating. You are working hard with your diet and exercise and you are losing a few pounds when suddenly out of nowhere you get stuck at a certain weight and your scale won't budge.

These plateau's takes place when you stop losing weight even when your workouts and diet have remained consistent. At some point everyone trying to lose weight will run into this frustrating problem.

Even with a well-planned diet and exercise program, running into a weight loss plateau is inevitable at some point. Your body works to keep the energy coming in and what goes out balanced as well as it can.

On top of that, your body will also adapt to changes you have made like working out and following a lower calorie diet. The body will simply become more efficient at burning fewer calories to make up the difference, which can create the stall.

The key is not to get discouraged about it, and to make sure you don't revert back to some old eating habits or cut back on your exercise habits.

What to do when the scale won't budge

Not eating enough: Believe it or not this is one of the main reasons you hit a plateau. By decreasing your food intake too much, your body responds by automatically lowering your metabolic rate. This will cause your energy level to slow and use fewer calories. It is important for you to eat small meals every three to four hour so that your energy and metabolism remain at a consistent high rate.

High-Intensity Interval Training: Why use interval training? when you keep doing the same workout over and over again, your body adjusts to the routine, works less, and burns fewer calories. Increasing the intensity of your workout and trying new things will cause your body to work harder and get back to burning more calories. There is also an "afterburn" from intense workouts that has your body continuing to burn extra calories for hours after your workout is over. as your body.

Body mass loss: Your muscles use five times the calories that fat does. If you lose the lean muscle, your metabolism will drop down sharply and your weight loss will slow down or stop completely. The solution is to maintain a strength training plan to help increase lean body mass to burn additional calories.

Review your plan: Look back at your diet and exercise activities. One common mistake made is to overcompensate for the calories burned while exercising by eating extra calories. A good way to monitor your eating is to keep a journal showing the calories you are eating daily. Seeing a record of the foods you are eating will help you to see where you can improve.

Don't Let a Weight Loss Plateau Ruin your Plan

You've done a good job to improve your diet and exercise plan, and you probably are seeing better numbers on your scale up until hitting a plateau. Try and be patient and stay strong. You are working hard to achieve better health, by knowing what typically happens to stall your plan; you can determine what steps you need to take in order to sustain additional weight loss.

I will continue to share ideas about diet and exercise that have helped me along the way. If you have any questions I can help you with, or if you have any ideas you want to share, feel free to contact me or visit our Q&A forum.